Many cartoners limit the types of beverages or packaging materials that you can use. But when you’re looking to grow your product offerings and overall business, you need a machine that does more for you–not less. That’s where the Beverage Spartan comes in. 
A little over 10 years ago, a customer needed to place cans into a box, which was a new application for us. We looked at the success of our Spartan Cartoner and built off of that to provide them with a solution. This was right when craft brewing really took off, and although we hadn’t worked on a solution like this before, we were up for the challenge. The original beverage cartoner is not the same machine that we have today–it was an elevator system that took the right pack pattern of cans and elevated them up to the height of the load station. Since then, we’ve made continuous improvements including a gating system and the ability to handle everything from a 4-pack to a 24-pack.
At Econocorp, we provide solutions to ease your headaches. Read on to explore three ways our secondary packaging and end-of-line integrated systems increase line efficiencies for growing businesses.
Carton a Wide Variety of Beverages–and Even Food!
Beverages
The Beverage Spartan is ideal for a range of beverages, including craft beer, craft spirits, and other canned beverages making it a versatile option for everyone from craft breweries to contract packagers. In some instances, we’ve even plugged this machine into mobile units in 18-wheeler trucks to provide water to disaster-struck areas. Rather than limiting the types of beverages you can package without purchasing an additional machine, this solution opens the door to carton more with a single machine–all in a smaller footprint.
Foods
More recently, we started utilizing the Beverage Spartan for food applications as well such as canned vegetables, soups, ravioli, and more–including those with clip tops. That easy-open style is a consumer favorite since it eliminates the need for can–openers. This unlocks new capabilities for our customer base which includes everyone from mom-and-pop food producers to contract packagers and large CPGs.
Easily Package Variety Packs
As the saying goes, variety is the spice of life. Having the ability to run variety packs– a favorite amongst consumers–on your line is a great way to expand your offerings and win more contracts. In fact, according to one study, “variety packs of flavored alcoholic beverages increased by 833 percent from 2016 to 2020”. (Source, Sidel)
Featuring a LinMot actuator for product loading and up to six lanes, the Beverage Spartan makes running variety packs easy. You can place up to six different varieties of cans that travel in their own lanes. The actuator then pushes the cans into sleeves or cartons with accuracy–whether you’re loading 4 or 6 at a time. The Beverage Spartan can reach speeds of up to 40 cartons per minute!
Run Paperboard & Corrugate
This is beneficial for a variety of reasons. First, it offers you the flexibility to switch between two different types of packaging materials based on the needs of your beverage product, as well as to meet the needs of your market, whose demands are constantly evolving.
Next, it provides cost and floor space savings by eliminating the need for more than one machine. In turn, this reduces maintenance costs since there’s just one unit to service.
Last but certainly not least, it allows you to choose the amount of protection your beverage product needs. While corrugate offers protection for more fragile or heavier products, paperboard can be ideal for lighter, less fragile products. The Beverage Spartan allows you to seamlessly switch between the two depending on your product.
No matter what your beverage application demands, the versatile Beverage Spartan is ready to pack a punch.
Ready to up your beverage cartoning game?